They, and some small businesses, will have to find replacement plans and that has some state insurance officials worried about consumer confusion.

Rollout of the Affordable Care Act is going full speed ahead, despite repeal efforts by congressional Republicans. New insurance markets called exchanges are to open in every state this fall. Middle-class consumers who don't get coverage on the job will be able to pick private health plans, while low-income people will be steered to an expanded version of Medicaid in states that accept it.

The goal is to cover most of the nation's nearly 50 million uninsured, but even Obama says there will be bumps in the road. And discontinued insurance plans could be another bump.

Also, it doesn't seem to square with one of the president's best known promises about his health care overhaul: "If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan."

But supporters of the overhaul are betting that consumers won't object once they realize the coverage they will get under the new law is superior to current bare-bones insurance. For example, insurers will no longer be able to turn people down because of medical problems.

Other bumps on the road to the new health care law include potentially unaffordable premiums for smokers unless states act to waive them, a new $63-per-head fee that will hit companies already providing coverage to employees and dependents, and a long-term care insurance program that had to be canceled because of the risk it could go belly up

The Obama administration did not respond directly to questions about the potential fallout from cancellation notices. Instead, Health and Human Services spokeswoman Joanne Peters released a prepared statement saying: "Beginning in October, individuals and small businesses will be able to shop for insurance in the marketplace, where we are already seeing that increased competition and transparency are leading to a range of options for quality, affordable plans."

For the most part, state insurance commissioners are giving insurers the option of canceling existing plans or changing them to comply with new federal requirements. Large employer plans that cover most workers and their families are unlikely to be affected.

Seen as consumer safeguards by the administration, the new requirements limit costs paid by policyholders, and also expand benefits. That includes better preventive care, and also improved prescription coverage in many cases. The most important feature may be protection for your pocketbook if you get really sick: The new plans limit copayments and other out-of-pocket costs to $6,400 a year for individuals.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners says it is hearing that many carriers will cancel policies and issue new ones because administratively that is easier than changing existing plans.

About 14 million Americans currently purchase their health policies individually, a number expected to more than double eventually because of the new law's subsidies and one-stop insurance markets. But the transition may not be seamless.

"The impending changes ... have the potential to cause policyholder confusion," said a recent memo from Iowa Insurance Commissioner Nick Gerhart to insurers. Though a Republican-led state, Iowa is helping to carry out major portions of the health care law.

Nationally a considerable number of people could be affected by cancellations. Information from insurers is still dribbling in to state regulators.

In Washington state, the changes will affect more than 400,000 people, said Stephanie Marquis, spokeswoman for insurance commissioner Mike Kreidler. Marquis said she expects the premiums for replacement plans to be similar to current ones, but with better coverage.

"Your costs involve more than your premiums," Marquis explained. "It's also what you would have to pay out of pocket if you had actually used your health plan."

Others see an encroaching nanny state.

"You're going to be forcibly upgraded," said Bob Laszewski, a health care industry consultant. "It's like showing up at the airline counter and being told, 'You have no choice, $300 please. You're getting a first-class ticket, why are you complaining?'"

Obama's promise dates back to June of 2009, when Congress was starting to grapple with overhauling the health care system to cover uninsured Americans. Later that summer, public anxieties about changes would erupt at dozens of angry congressional town hall meetings with constituents.

"If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan, period," the president reassured the American Medical Association. "No one will take it away, no matter what."

At the time, some saw the promise as too broad, given that health plans are constantly being changed by the employers that sponsor them or by insurers directly.

Nonetheless, Democrats in Congress devised a complicated scheme called "grandfathering" to try to deliver on Obama's pledge. It can shield plans from many of the law's requirements, provided the plans themselves change little.

State officials said it has proven impractical in most cases for insurers to "grandfather" plans sold to individuals.

Questions and answers for Virginia insurers provided by state regulators say most carriers are expected to file new policies "given the extensive amount of changes resulting from state and federal laws."

A Washington state insurance department presentation for insurers says plans must mail their discontinuation and replacement notices to consumers by Sept. 15.

State insurance spokeswoman Marquis said, "I don't think it is necessarily a bad thing that they are going to be getting a replacement notice, because they going to be able to go out and shop in this marketplace and they'll be getting better coverage."

A prominent expert called the work a landmark, but noted that a different, simpler technique now under development may prove more useful.

Stem cells can turn into any cell of the body, so scientists are interested in using them to create tissue for treating disease. Transplanting brain tissue might treat Parkinson's disorder, for example, and pancreatic tissue might be used for diabetes.

But transplants run the risk of rejection, so more than a decade ago, researchers proposed a way around that: Create tissue from stem cells that bear the patient's own DNA, obtained with a process called therapeutic cloning.

If DNA from a patient is put into a human egg, which is then grown into an early embryo, the stem cells from that embryo would provide a virtual genetic match. So in theory, tissues created from them would not be rejected by the patient.

That idea was met with some ethical objections because harvesting the stem cells involved destroying human embryos.

Scientists have tried to get stem cells from cloned human embryos for about a decade, but they've failed. Generally, that's because the embryos stopped developing before producing the cells. In 2004, a South Korean scientist claimed to have gotten stem cells from cloned human embryos, but that turned out to be a fraud.

In Wednesday's edition of the journal Cell, however, scientists in Oregon report harvesting stem cells from six embryos created from donated eggs. Two embryos had been given DNA from skin cells of a child with a genetic disorder, and the others had DNA from fetal skin cells.

Shoukhrat Mitalipov of the Oregon Health & Science University, who led the research, said the success came not from a single technical innovation, but from revising a series of steps in the process. He noted it had taken six years to reach the goal after doing it with monkey embryos.

Mitalipov also said that based on monkey work, he believes human embryos made with the technique could not develop into cloned babies, and he has no interest in trying to do that.Scientists have cloned more than a dozen kinds of mammals, starting with Dolly the sheep.

The new work was financed by the university and the Leducq Foundation in Paris.

Dr. George Daley, a stem cell expert at Children's Hospital Boston who didn't participate in the work, called the new results "one landmark step in a very long journey" toward creating DNA-matched transplant tissue.

Now, Daley said, scientists must compare the embryo-cloning approach with another technology that reprograms blood or skin cells directly into substitutes for embryonic stem cells. This reprogramming approach is technically simpler and doesn't involve embryos or require the donation of human eggs, and it was widely acclaimed when it was reported in 2007. Its Japanese developer shared a Nobel Prize last year.

But these substitute cells show some molecular differences compared to embryonic ones, which has led to questions about whether they can safely be used for treating patients. So it's essential to compare the cells from the two methods, Daley said.

The new results mean "we have another tool," he said. "We have to learn more about this tool."

Daley said he believed scientists will prefer using the reprogramming approach unless it can be proven "beyond a shadow of a doubt" that embryo cloning produces better cells for treating patients.

Mitalipov said he believed his technique would present a particular advantage for treating patients with a certain type of rare diseases. These are caused by mutations in genes of the mitochondria, the power plants of cells. He noted his technique, unlike the cell-reprogramming approach, would supply tissue with new mitochondrial genes that could replace defective ones. Those new genes would come from the egg.

The Rev. Tad Pacholczyk, director of education for National Catholic Bioethics Center, an independent think tank in Philadelphia, reiterated his opposition to embryo cloning, calling the approach unethical.

"It involves the decision to utilize early human beings as repositories for obtaining desired cells," he said. "You're creating them only to destroy them."

Marcy Darnovsky, executive director of the Center for Genetics and Society in Berkeley, Calif., said she was glad that Mitalipov doubted the embryos could be used to clone babies. She said the report still provides a good opportunity for the federal government to ban the use of cloning for reproduction.

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Online:

Journal Cell: http://www.cell.com/

___ Malcolm Ritter can be followed at http://www.twitter.com/malcolmritter

The poll, conducted in the wake of the allegations, found that Cain’s popularity among registered Republicans declined by 9 points since the days before the allegations of the scandal were published. Among Republicans polled last week, on October 27 and 28, 66 percent said they had a favorable opinion of Cain. But just 57 percent of those polled on November 4 and 5 said they had a favorable opinion of the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza.

The drop off comes primarily from Cain’s less enthusiastic supporters. The percentage of Republicans who say they hold a ‘very favorable’ opinion of him has dropped by only 3 percentage points. The percentage of voters who say they hold a ‘somewhat favorable’ view of him has dropped by 6 points.

The sexual harassment allegations seem unlikely to go away: they have been widely reported, and 88 percent of Republicans say they have heard of them, as have 81 percent of Democrats and 64 percent of independents.

That said, Republicans remain somewhat uncertain on the whether or not there is any truth to the allegations. Thirty-two percent say they think it is likely that the allegations are true, while 27 percent they are likely untrue. Very few — 7 percent — say they strongly believe the allegations are true, and just 10 percent say they strongly believe the allegations are untrue. Twenty-four percent say they don’t know. Among independents who have an opinion, most believe the allegations to be likely true. However, over half of independents express no opinion.

Almost half of Republicans say the reported allegations have no bearing on how they feel about Cain. But 35 percent say it makes them feel less favorably about him, while just 14 percent say it improves their opinion of him.

The results suggest that while many Republicans are still giving Cain the benefit of the doubt, the longer the story stays in the news, the worse things will get for him.

An ABC/Washington Post poll conducted in the first three days after the story broke on Monday October 31 saw little change in Cain’s popularity. Most Republicans surveyed said the allegations were not serious, and Cain ran within 2 points of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney on the ballot.

Moreover, the Cain campaign reported a large outpouring of donations to the campaign in the days following the allegations, as many conservatives stood by him, calling the allegations a “high tech lynching.”

But the continuing decline suggests that the allegations are sinking into voters’ consciousness. The longer the story stays in the news and the more details that emerge, the more Cain is likely to see his support erode.

The Ipsos poll was conducted from November 4 to November 5, and surveyed 836 registered voters, including 343 Republicans.

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They talked about a South Korean movie they saw, and wondered if prison cells there were really as clean as the film depicted.

The South Korean activist said the encounter provided a glimpse into the lives of North Korea's "ggotjebi," an underclass of vagrants who stay alive by begging, scavenging and stealing. It's not clear how many exist, or what will become of the nine defectors repatriated last week.

The defectors, seven male and two female, were flown home from China. They had been detained in Laos some 17 days earlier, along with a South Korean missionary who tried to help them get to a foreign embassy in the Southeast Asian country, according to South Korean officials and activists in Seoul.

China, North Korea's neighbor and ally, frequently returns North Korean defectors hiding in its territory to their homeland under a bilateral treaty, but analysts said it was unusual for the news of the return of teen ggotjebi to become so public.

The term ggotjebi is believed to originate from a Russian word meaning nomad. It refers to those who manage to stay alive by begging on the streets, stealing food and goods at markets, rummaging through trash heaps, pickpocketing and burglary. North Korean defectors say the government considers ggotjebi a headache because they don't abide by regulations and undermine the country's image.

Though it is unclear how many ggotjebi are in North Korea, the number was believed to have sharply surged in the 1990s, when the country was devastated by a famine that foreign economists estimate killed hundreds of thousands of people. Many people sneaked across the border to China in search of food.

In recent years, as more North Koreans have left their homeland sometimes without telling immediate family members the number of children abandoned by their parents has risen as well, defectors say.

"We left our children with a promise that they will only have to wait for just three days (until we can stay together again), but now we cannot even count how old they have become," defector Kim Tai-hee said at a rally in Seoul on Wednesday. "We don't know the whereabouts of the children in North Korea."

The nine repatriated defectors ranged in age from 14 to 22, according to two South Korean activists who said they were familiar with them. Most are believed to be orphans found roaming around a Chinese border town by a South Korean missionary who took them in.

Eight of the nine had been ggotjebi at markets in the city of Hyesan in North Korea's northern Ryanggang province, and in the Chinese border town of Changbai, according to South Korean human rights activist Ahn Kyung-su. He said he met the defectors in China in mid-April, for one day.

Ahn said he was told that a South Korean missionary had looked after them for months at a shelter in the Chinese border town of Dandong after bringing them from Changbai. Ahn traveled to Dandong to see if any of the defectors wanted to come to his organization in Seoul.

Ahn said most of the defectors were "very active and playful" and knew one another well.

"They just playfully told me about what one another did as ggotjebi," he said. "They talked about being beaten with sticks by restaurant owners after being caught for trying to steal noodles. They were smiling as they told these stories but actually, they're miserable stories."

He said the defectors were interested in South Korea's pop culture and asked him about a recent hit movie in which inmates help one of their own reunite with his daughter in prison. "One of the questions was whether prison cells in South Korea are really as clean as shown on the movie," he said.

North Korea alleged Wednesday that the youths were not defectors but had been kidnapped by South Koreans.

A spokesman for the Central Committee of North Korea's Red Cross Society accused South Korean traffickers of attempting to abduct the teens, and subjecting them to brainwashing and beatings. The teens also were forced to convert to Christianity, according to a statement carried Wednesday by North Korean state media.

Under North Korea's penal code, repatriated defectors face a minimum of five years of hard labor, and up to life in prison or death for cases deemed serious.

The U.N. human rights chief criticized both China and Laos for allowing the nine defectors to be repatriated. The U.S. has said it is very concerned about the case, and South Korea has demanded that North Korea not punish the defectors unfairly.

China urged the U.N. not to make "irresponsible" comments, and Laos cited human trafficking as a reason for the detainment of South Koreans who helped the defectors.

Not all ggotjebi become vagrants because of economic reasons. Kim Hyuk, a 31-year-old North Korean defector now living in South Korea, said he ran away from home in the northeastern city of Chongjin when he was 7 after finding out his mother was actually his stepmother.

He said he started out scavenging for leftovers in garbage bins, and later stole food from shops, broke into vacant houses, stole clothes that were hanging out to dry and even used razors to slit open other people's bags to steal their lunch at a crowded train station.

"At first I felt a little bit guilty, scared and nervous, but I also thought I would die if I didn't do those things," he said in an interview with The Associated Press this week.

Caught by police, he was frequently sent home and beaten by his father, but he kept running away. He said he never fit into strictly controlled North Korean society.

Kim said he fled to South Korea in 2001 after serving more than a year at a North Korean labor camp for smuggling and other charges, and now works for the government as an instructor on North Korea.

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Chinese censors have rejected a cut of "World War Z," Paramount's film about the zombie apocalypse starring Brad Pitt, an executive familiar with upcoming releases in China told TheWrap. A Paramount executive said that the studio had not yet heard back from China's censorship office, and was unaware of any rejection.

The decision is potentially significant as the inability to screen in China would limit one of the year's most expensive movies, reportedly $200 million, from having access to the world's second biggest market. A release in China could contribute tens of millions of dollars in grosses to the film's bottom line.

"It definitely got rejected the first time" it was submitted, said the executive, who is close to China's decision-making structure, which is run by the state. "It has not been cleared." He said the decision came down a week ago.

The Paramount executive countered: "We have submitted one version and have yet to receive a response."

Paramount is angling for a precious release slot in a quota-driven system in China. It may yet be approved; Paramount can still resubmit the film, which opens in the United States on June 21, and hope censors change their minds.

China is "always moving the goal posts," the executive said. Several other films are still waiting to see whether they gain approval, as China often rewards a release date after a movie even opens.

"Fast and Furious 6," a already a hit at home and overseas, will not open in China until July 26, at which point it should be thoroughly pirated in that country.

As TheWrap previously reported, Paramount already changed "World War Z" as a preemptive move to increase the movie's chances of being approved. In the scene, officials debated whether a global outbreak originated in China. Paramount removed the line "China is dark," but the line was played during a Super Bowl advertising spot, which China knew about.

Other hurdles to Chinese approval of the film include a sensitivity to Pitt, who is remembered for having starred in "Seven Years in Tibet," which highlighted Tibet's struggle for autonomy in the wake of Chinese invasion and capture of that nation.

The film also features zombies, which are subject to censor scrutiny in a country that does not like depictions of magic, horror or superstition.

The film has drawn an incredible amount of attention ever since Paramount postponed its release, hired Damon Lindelof to rewrite the end and reshot parts of the movie. Paramount executives are now very optimistic about the film, but there's no question that being deprived a release in China would hurt the box office potential of a $200M+ production.

China's value as a market was underlined for Paramount over the weekend, when the studio's "Star Trek Into Darkness" wrapped its first week of release there with more than $25 million.

Among the movies that have been cleared include Warner Bros.' "Man of Steel" and "Pacific Rim," Sony's "After Earth" and "White House Down" and Universal's "Fast and Furious 6."

The oldest licensed driver in New Zealand, and one of the oldest in the world, has been driving for 88 of his 105 years and has no plans to give it up, just as he intends to keep working out every morning in his home gym, and to keep regularly cooking meals for himself and his wife, who's 91.

"In fact, I don't think I'm old," Edwards says. "Not really."

He's been involved in just one crash in his life and has gotten just one speeding ticket, a citation that still gets him riled up years later. When he broke his left hip three years ago, his doctors said to stop driving for six weeks but he didn't pay them much mind. After all, he says, he drives an automatic and only needs his right leg for that.

In New Zealand, drivers older than 80 must have their health and vision tested every two years to stay on the road. Many countries in Europe and U.S. states have similar requirements.

While stories about elderly drivers making mistakes or causing crashes often make headlines, it's young drivers who tend to cause the most damage.

"Older drivers, on a per-kilometer-driven basis, are involved in far fewer crashes than younger drivers," said Andy Knackstedt, a spokesman for the New Zealand Transport Agency, which oversees driver testing.

He said that for many elderly people, retaining a license helps them maintain their independence, mobility and dignity. "Our job is really to balance that with the need to make sure our roads are safe," he says.

According to Guinness World Records, the world's oldest driver was American Fred Hale Sr. who was on the road until his 108th birthday in 1998.

Edwards drives three times a week to the store 15 kilometers (9 miles) down the road. He picks up groceries on Sundays and the newspapers on other days. Occasionally, he says, he'll drive farther afield, to a medical appointment or to visit friends.

He grew up in England and he learned to drive in his uncle's car, a De Dion Bouton.

"It was something new. Cars were just coming in," Edwards says. "I mean, it was just marvelous."

He got his first license in 1925 at age 17. Two years later, he saw a Salvation Army ad seeking young men to work on the farms of England's colonies.

"They told me Canada was very cold, Australia was very hot, but New Zealand, they said, was just right," Edwards says. "So I picked New Zealand."

He eventually bought a Dodge car, converted it into a truck and started transporting the fossilized gum of native kauri trees from Snells Beach in the north to the city of Auckland. Soon he was working 16-hour days and transporting butter, groceries and gas; he bought new trucks and employed a couple of drivers.

Gas rationing during World War II effectively ended his business. For much of the rest of his working life, he captained tourist and car ferries, fibbing about his age so he could work beyond what was then the mandatory retirement age of 60.

His wife, Lesley, stopped driving about 30 years ago. Her husband always took the wheel, anyway, and he will stay with it as long as he can.

"As far as I'm concerned, driving is a part of me," he says. "I mean, that was me. I was a driver. And I could drive anything. Anything at all."

George Sabra, the acting head of the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition, said the battle for Qusair, a town in western Syrian, was just "one round" in a larger fight to "liberate Syria."

Sabra's remarks Wednesday are the first by the opposition since the Syrian army, backed by militants of Lebanon's Hezbollah group, captured Qusair earlier in the day.

He slammed Hezbollah's "murderous" involvement in the Qusair fight and warned the group's role in the Syrian battle will deepen the Sunni-Shiite rift in the region.

Hezbollah is a Shiite group and the Syrian rebels are overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim.

Auckland Blues trio Charles Piutau, Francis Saili and powerful flanker Steven Luatua joined Waikato Chiefs prop Ben Afeaki, Wellington Hurricanes lock Jeremy Thrush and Canterbury Crusader Matt Todd in winning first call ups on Sunday.

The six deservedly earn their places in a strong squad - led by captain Kieran Read - after a number of standout displays in Super Rugby this season.

"We have looked to take the opportunity to introduce six new players and the selectors would like to congratulate those young men on being selected," Hansen said in a statement.

"That means we have introduced 15 new players to our environment in the last 12 months thus accomplishing one of our goals of having a mixture of experience and enthusiastic new faces.

"It's now about consolidating and narrowing our focus for this three-match test series against what will be a very good French side. They are a team never to be underestimated."

Todd is labelled an 'injury replacement' in the 32 as his Crusaders team mate Sam Whitelock has a broken finger and will miss the first two tests on June 8 and 15 but is expected to be fit for the third on June 22.

Blues centre Rene Ranger is recalled after a three year absence, just reward after some bruising tackles and powerful running for the Auckland-based side this year.

Experienced duo Andrew Hore and Ma'a Nonu retain their places in the squad despite enduring disappointing campaigns with the Otago Highlanders, who sit bottom of the Super Rugby standings.

"In picking the side, the selectors have looked at, firstly, a combination of Super Rugby form and past All Blacks form and secondly, getting the balance right between experience and new blood," Hansen said.

Centre Saili has built a strong partnership in the Blues midfield with Ranger this year while pacey fullback Piutau has also been impressive for the Aucklanders having played for the All Blacks on the sevens circuit last term.

Competition for a starting spot on their home track at Eden Park for the first test, though, is high with the tried and trusted Conrad Smith and Israel Dagg among those named in the 32.

Lock Thrush fills the void left by the retirement of another Auckland Blue, Ali Williams, who quit internationals last month, while Afeaki has been a cornerstone in the Chiefs front row.

Steven Luatua has been arguably the most impressive of the six, however, with his pace, physicality and versatility leading to his inclusion.

With World Cup winning captain Richie McCaw still enjoying a sabbatical, Luatua will go head-to-head with Sam Cane of the Chiefs for the openside flanker berth.

Squad: Dane Coles, Andrew Hore, Keven Mealamu, Ben Afeaki, Wyatt Crockett, Ben Franks, Owen Franks, Tony Woodcock, Brodie Retallick, Luke Romano, Jeremy Thrush, Samuel Whitelock, Sam Cane, Steven Luatua, Liam Messam, Kieran Read (captain), Victor Vito, Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Aaron Smith, Piri Weepu, Beauden Barrett, Daniel Carter, Aaron Cruden, Ma'a Nonu, Rene Ranger, Francis Saili, Conrad Smith, Israel Dagg, Charles Piutau, Julian Savea, Ben Smith, Matt Todd (injury replacement). (Reporting by Patrick Johnston in Singapore, editing by Amlan Chakraborty)

New York's Office of General Services has turned to eBay in an attempt to sell off a huge, steel morgue refrigerator now located at a Manhattan psychiatric hospital.

Bidding on Saturday afternoon was up to $475 for the four-drawer unit, but that price doesn't include delivery. Buyers have to be willing to remove the fridge themselves from the Manhattan Psychiatric Center.

Office of General Services spokeswoman Heather Groll tells the New York Post (http://bit.ly/11htBpM ) that the ad is no hoax.

She says the agency does get unusual surplus items to sell from time to time, including barber chairs from prisons and police cars, but she doesn't recall a previous sale of a morgue cooler.

The auction runs through June 6.

___

Information from: New York Post, http://www.nypost.com

A British security official said the situation involving the Pakistan International Airlines flight did not appear terror-related, though police were still investigating, but the incident further rattled the U.K. just days after a soldier was killed on a London street in a suspected terror attack.

The security official requested anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the investigation.

A Pakistani official briefed by British police and PIA security on the investigation said the two suspects, speaking Urdu, allegedly threatened to "destroy the plane" after an argument with crew. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the case on the record.

Flight P709 was traveling from Lahore, Pakistan, to Manchester Airport when it was diverted by the fighter jets to Stansted Airport. The U.K. Ministry of Defense confirmed that Typhoon jets were launched to investigate an incident involving a civilian aircraft but gave no further details.

Passenger Nauman Rizvi told Pakistan's GEO TV that two men who had tried to move toward the cockpit during the flight were handcuffed and arrested once the plane landed. Rizvi said that after the men were taken away, the flight crew told passengers there had been a terrorist threat and that the pilot had raised an alarm.

Essex Police said they were notified at 1:20 p.m. local time (12:20 GMT, 8:20 a.m. EDT) that a threat had been made to an aircraft. The force said that after the Boeing 777 landed at 2:15 p.m., armed officers entered it and arrested two British nationals, aged 30 and 41, on suspicion of endangering the aircraft.

The suspects were taken to a police station where they face questioning, the police said in a statement. The plane will be examined by forensic specialists but no suspicious items have been recovered so far, police added.

"This incident is being treated as a criminal offense," the police statement said, in another indication it was not being seen as a terror case.

Mashood Tajwar, a spokesman for PIA, said 297 passengers and 11 crew members were on the plane. By late afternoon Friday, passengers had disembarked from the plane and were being interviewed, according to Mark Davison, a spokesman for Stansted Airport.

Police across Britain have stepped up patrols in recent days following the suspected terror attack in south London.

Two men with a meat cleaver and knives attacked and killed a British soldier in broad daylight, and gruesome footage that emerged after the attack showed one of the alleged assailants angrily complaining about the British government and troops in foreign lands.

Those two suspects were shot when police arrived on the scene and have been hospitalized.

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Associated Press writers Paisley Dodds in London and Zarar Khan in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Cassandra Vinograd can be reached at http://twitter.com/CassVinograd and Danica Kirka can be reached at http://twitter.com/DanicaKirka